Quote:So all this said, what do you think of those who train engrossedly upon a crystallisation of Bruce's style at the point of his death? And furthermore, rally to try and keep it as 'pure' and non deviant as possible?

I personally don’t care what people do. I only care that others would try and dictate their own opinions of what JKD “is” or is not.

It is the SPIRIT of Lee’s that we should try and emulate, not his fighting style or method of training because THAT was constantly changing and evolving.

Lee’s expression of JKD was different in Seattle, different in Oakland and different in LA. If he’d lived, he would have no doubt continued to refine and evolve.

Not many of his FOLLOWERS however! Many of them are stuck in a time warp because they’re busy trying to imitate Lee - which was the LAST thing he would have wanted (and is one of the reasons he allegedly shut his schools down).

Quote: So all this said, what do you think of those who train engrossedly upon a crystallisation of Bruce's style at the point of his death? And furthermore, rally to try and keep it as 'pure' and non deviant as possible?

I very much agree with John's post here. Refinement is at the heart of the JKD paradigm; to be foolish enough to believe that Bruce Lee was the end result of JKD is to deny the very principle of JKD.

I would hope that MAists do not try to learn how to fight as Lee would. We are all different and should develop ourselves recognising those differences. This is especially important for me as someone who is not a formal student of JKD- I do TKD and boxing. Obviously I cannot do many of the wing chun based techniques found in JKD- but that does not make my reading of JKD inferior. Instead, I have a different set of striking tools at my disposal- and yes I need to learn some grappling! but let's leave that aside for now- I will train and fight in a way that benefits my skill set.

Indeed, many of the students and colleagues of Lee, for instance Joe Lewis or Dan Insoanto, were already accomplished martial artists, and not trained in classical wing chun. I do not think they had an inferior style because Lewis used mainly kickboxing techniques- it was a style which he was most comfortable with.

People must be allowed to come to JKD via their own path. In my opinion JKD makes far more sense to an already accomplished MAist. It demands taking a closer look at your own abilities and begins the search for refining your own style of fighting. Being told what is effective according to JKD law makes no sense to me. A wise man(I forget his name) was asked once- what is the best system of government? He replied, "at what time, and where?" This appies to JKD: style is a subjective thing, and to turn style into a set of rules is wrong.

Personally, I feel this is exactly the point Lee was trying to make. And I hope you guys agree

Hi there.I've done some JKD over the past 8 years, and I've learned that what makes it a "thing" is focussing on what you're trying to achieve; learning to fight. I took a very unorthodox concept based Kenpo class for 8 years prior, and it's very much the same in it's methodology, just taking it's components from slightly different places.

The difference between 'Mixed' martial arts and 'jkd' seems to be mixing things up makes diversity without a necessary common element, and concept based 'systems' often have an underlying foundation in similarity. That similarity helps to relate one thing to another and concequently things are theoretically learned both faster and deeper, using limitation as a way of freeing oneself from limitation. Using a crutch only until you can walk.

I think all 'arts' or orthodoxies in lifestarted off with this flavour of original freedom. Don't get bound by 'style' since that's just someone else's interpretation of what they learned and how they teach the lessons they've cultivated over the years. Too many generations of that and you end up with a lot of rules and rituals, but no understanding whatsoever.

That attitude of honest research, practice, and the transformation of knowledge into wisdom through the development of skill (practice and experimentation, constant improvement) should be in place in every person, like it is with most children, regardless of the name you've chosen for your person understanding of the way things are.

I think, whatever Bruce is credited for having said is made famous and marketed outside of it's relevance, and like him, I think each individual must walk the path to understanding themselves, for and by themselves.